Damper.



N. T. MCKEE.

, DAMPER. l APPLICATION FILED MAILZZ. i916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

N. T". MCKEE.

DAMPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1916. l, mente@ May 15, 191?.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- NEAL TRIMBIIJE MCKEE, OF-YNKERS, YORK, ASSIGNOR TO LOCOMOTIVE SRER- HEATER COM'BANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE.

DAMPER.

To all whom t 'may concern:

Be it knownithat I, NEAL TiuniLE Mo- KEIJ, a citizenof the United States, residing at Yonkers, county of Viestchester, VState of yNew York, have invented certain new and ruseful Improvements in Dampers, of which the followingis a full and accurate description, such as is required by the statute.

My invention relates to dampers, and more particularly` to Vdal'mpers used 1n `congiiection with locomotives equipped with smoke tube superheaters.

ln locomotives equipped with such-superheaters. it has becomefpractically standard 'usage to arrange-the superheater units in enlarged lues in theupper portion of the boiler, theV unitends being attached to a header located in the upper portion ofthe smokebox. To protect the units from injury by the hot gases from the rebox at times when ncsteain is circulating through them, a damper is arranged in the smokebox whichautomatically operates to shut oit the flow of the-heating gases through the en- :larged 1lues at times Awhen no steam is be- Y ingr supplied to thel cylinders, and to permit.

such How at other times.

lt isa wellknown fact that when such locomotives work under varying conditions the temperature of the steam fluctuaties; and itis the object ofthe present invention to decrease such fluctuations.

.The nature ot myy invention will be better understood by. referring to. the drawings forming part of this specification, inl which Figure 1 represents, partly in elevation and partly in section, a portion of a locomotive equipped with 'my invention; Fig. 2 showingr a similar view of a modification.

Referring first to the form illustrated in Fig. 1 it will be seen that the usual and wellknowneleinents are present. ,The ends of the superheater unitsl aresecured 'in the =usiial or any preferred way to the header 2,

to which steam is supplied by the'dry pipe 3, and from which it is carried by the steam pipe L to the cylinders of the locomotive.Y

Spe'cifcation of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15, 1917. VApplication filed March v522, 1916.- Sria1 No.86,034.

ferred point between the. throttle and the tates and opens the' damper. When the throttle is closed and no' steam pressure exists in pipe 4,- the weight 30 closes the dani-M y ,per moving the piston @6to the right into the position shown. arrangement and no claims are made to this This is a Well-known part of the apparatus, except as it may ent-er l into the l combinations claimed.

A' second damper 8, keyed to shafty 9, may

oscillate between the positions shown inv full and dotted lines respectively-' The shaft S) has keyed to it an arm, 17. Lever arms 15 and 13 are keyed tothe shaft-14 forming with it a bell crank, Link 16 operatively 4connects arms 17 and 15. A slot in the arm 13 engages pin 12. spindle 20 which carries at its upper end the plunger 10 andl at its lower end plunger 19i Plunger '10 reciprocates in a portion of the steam pipe 4, while plunger 1) recipro- Cates .in the dashfpot 18. Spring 11, bearing This pin is fixed on 'theV against eollarll, Which-isseeurod to rod 20 by pin 32, opposes the downward movement of spindle 20. Shafts 9 and 14 preferably entend through the Wall of the smoke boX,

so that arms 15 andl 17, and the link 16 conmeeting them, lie outside of the smoke boX.

The action of the device is as follows: -When the main throttle is opened,'the steam passing through steam pipe 4 will tend to depress -the plunger 10. This depression is resisted by spring` 11 and the actual position of'plunger 10 will depend on the amount of steam flow at any given time. It will be evident that the position of the plunger 10 detoi'iiiinos the position of damper 8. At the 'time of maximum. steam flowvdamper 8 will be in the position indicated in dotted lines: at times of no flow, in the full line position; and at other times in intermediate positions. Dashpot 18 and its piston Y19 serve to steady the action.

lhe result of such an arrangement is that as the steaiiideiiiaiid increases, the flow of the hot gasesthrough the fire tubes 21 becomes freer. a smaller proportionl of the total fiowof gases `occurs through iiies 5; and thus, with the parts properly proportioned, the rate -of evaporation increases with an increased steam demand.I While the the. shaft 9 and thus damper S, also secured to shaft 9. is given its various positions by manipulation of the lever The lever is hitched in the wellknoxvn way -when it ha been put into the position desired.

, lith the apparatus in this form the engineer throws the lever 22 forward a dis-` tance proportionate to the steam demand,

' thus securing the same effect manually as is obtained z ultoinatically in the form first described.

lVIanifestly certain variations are possible. Thus the position 'ofthe damper may be thernmstatcally controlled, opening -more -withan increase in the temperature of the steam; the damper may be` given other shapes` or may be made to shut E completely the flow ofvhot gases through some of the lire tubes at the periods of low steam demand. These and similar variations are evidently within the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1; In a boilei-,of the class described, the combination ot flues,l super-heater elements located in said dues, fire tubes, vand means to inox-ease with an increased steam-demand the proportionate part of the ho gases flowing through the fire tubes.

In a boiler of the class described, the 4 combination of flues, fire tubes, a steam plpe delivering steam from the boiler, superheater elements 'located in said flues, means for controlling the flow of hot gases through the flues, and means responsive tothe How of steam through said steam pipe'permitting an increased proportionate flow of l10t-ga; se`s,'v. through the fire tubes as the stearnflowiin creases. 3 3. In a boilerofIthe-class described,`the`l combination of ilues, -a superheater Whose elements are located in said ues, aV pipe to 1 Carr)7 steam from the superheater, fire tubes, a baille adapted to prevent gases from the fire tubes, from reaching the superheater elements and to shut off the low 'of hotvgases through the flues, a damper in Said y battle opening to its full extentin response to steam pressure .in the steam pipe, and a damper adapted to permit a freer flow vof hotgases through the re tubes with' an increase in steam demand, but never shutting said'ow olf completely..

4. Ina boiler of the class described, the combination of lues, a. superheater Whose elements lie within said lues, a conduit carrying steam from the boiler to said superheater, a throttle in said conduit, a damper. controlling the 'loW of hot gases through.

the nues, damper rigging which opens the damper to its full extent, Whenthe throttle is opened, land keeps it open until the throttle is again closed, fire tubes, asecond damper' controlling the How -offhot gases,

through 'said fire tubes, mechanism` adapted to open 'the second damper to agreater or lesser extent.

' NEAL TRIMBLE MoKEEi 

